Snapchat employees had some hilarious reactions to Instagram's 'copycat' product (FB)
Illustration adapted from Bruce Turner/Flickr
On Tuesday, Facebook-owned Instagram released a new feature called Stories that has an uncanny resemblance to Snapchat Stories.
Just like Snapchat, Instagram will now let you share with select friends your special photos and videos, which will disappear after 24 hours.
Although companies iterate on each other's products all the time, this move stands out in part because Facebook has a long history of trying to clone Snapchat features. CEO Mark Zuckerberg even tried to buy the company some time ago.
And with Facebook and Snapchat locked in a fierce battle for users and ad dollars, the familiar look of Instagram's latest feature did not go unnoticed by the creators of the original disappearing-photos app.
One Snapchatter told Business Insider that they thought it was funny that Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom admitted its copycatting rather bluntly in interviews. Systrom told TechCrunch's Josh Constine that Snapchat deserves "all the credit" for Stories.
The company declined to comment on the similarities, but here are some of our other favorite responses from Snapchat employees on Twitter:
Jack Brody, a product designer at Snapchat, likened Instagram's move to Melania Trump's plagiarized speech:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/760498244556320774
Step 1: Open Snapchat, Step 2: Use Snapchat Stories instead, Step 3: uninstall Instagram https://t.co/yhEBAnDrXa
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/760533366659649537
For their next act, @Instagram will be giving a 100% original speech, first written and performed by @MichelleObama in 2008
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/760533680750071808
???? pic.twitter.com/4dnAJsvKyE
Tobias McGuigan, another employee, busts out some solid hashtag-sarcasm:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/760516378885443584
congratulations to the team at instagram. true #innovation https://t.co/nFA4ekug1F
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/760569225819721729
F'real tho I respect Insta but... dang
Nick Allen, who works on product at Snapchat, references a previous tweet from last month, calling out Facebook's Quick Updates, a Snapchat-like product that Facebook was testing:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/760514019421585410
See previous tweet: "It's basically a seasonal event now:" https://t.co/RCrv3R1Wd8
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